We had no warning where we were headed to, especially those of us from Lagos. We had come for a media briefing on Professor Wole Soyinka’s 80th birthday, and I was wondering why the undisclosed location we were being taken to. When our convoy finally pulled up by the roadside overlooking a mini thick forest, I was thinking we were briefly on a tourist tour to a desolate cave, a no man’s land lost to civilisation.
The entrance to the zigzagging forest had a screaming signboard: “TRESPASSING VEHICLES WILL BE SHOT AND EATEN”. The warning was a novelty, an
d most of us treaded with trepidation down the untarred road leading to our destination. How could a vehicle be shot and eaten? By who? Could that explain why our vehicles were parked in front of the entrance?
There was no inkling that a residential house was located anywhere. The sloppy environment was dotted with tall trees and palm trees, with thick shrubs concealing whatever was without. The down chorus of birds rent the air, and, in an instant, I became nostalgic of my childhood adventures to distant farmlands for games.
About twenty metres from the entrance, we beheld a duplex swathed by a bush. The flowery ambience in front of the building concealed the structure, to an extent. At once, I had a dejavu. This must be Soyinka’s house, I told myself, having seen the photo of the house when it was first built in the 1980s.
Before getting to the building itself, a dry stream bifurcated the road, and that showed its occupant is a man at home with nature. Instead of the lavish taste of famous Nigerians, Soyinka prefers an idyllic surrounding to nourish his creativity.
“You can now understand this man better,” Akeem Lasisi, a colleague from Punch newspapers, told me as we wondered on Soyinka’s natural instincts. Known as Ijegba background, one side of the main building stood on pillars, and it led to an adjourning building by the rear. It had a medieval architectural finishing and a surrealistic air about it.
Soyinka’s neigbours are animals and birds –no nearby building was in sight from his compound. No wonder when sometime ago when Soyinka’s power generating set cut out, his aides had gone to check what was wrong only to see a big snake coiling around it. Jokingly, Soyinka had told his visitor: “That’s the kind of neighbours I have here.”
Soyinka was not at home when we called, but he had given his permission for us to use his house for the press briefing. A secretive person, he hardly allows anybody inside his compound. Perhaps he felt at ease with media men, who wouldn’t find any skeleton in his cupboard.
The media briefing and interaction with organizers of the 80th birthday activities lasted for about two hours, and another surprise awaited us when we were done: we were entertained to traditional delicacies in front of Soyinka’s house, including the local ofada rice wrapped with fresh leaves, bitter colas, alligator peppers, palm wine, among others. There was nothing foreign about the entertainment we got, it must be noted. For most of us living in the cities, that were something to relish. Japhet Alakam of Vanguard newspaper confessed he was drinking palm wine for the first time in 10 years. “This tastes good like out village brew,” he said.
Entertainment over, we walked out of the Ijegba reinvigorated by the traditional treat. Before we departed, I asked Akeem Lasisi rather humourously: “Hope nobody has been shot and eaten here?” A roar elapses for a moment. Just then, we realized two lady reporters from our Lagos team hadn’t shown up. A search party was sent back to Soyinka’s compound where they saw them conducting an interview. Luckily, nobody had been shot and eaten: we were no jaywalkers
news source: sun news
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